Project leadership in clinical research organisations

Do managers adjust the contextual variables of a project with a view to suiting their personal style? A survey among project leaders in clinical research organisations has given limited support to this proposition but has identified a relationship between the perception of the difficulties involved in a project and types of leaders, based on Fiedler’s theory. This observation has important implications both for project definition in terms of contextual characteristics and for the choice of appropriate project managers, particularly where knowledge workers are involved.